RE: Brother Ramananda

I worked for over a year at Lake Shrine on the cleaning crew, and when Brother Ramananda came into inspect your work, you could be sure that there would be something you'd need to redo because it wasn't "just so."

Well, I decided one day that I was going to get through the cycle without having to redo a thing. I worked and scrubbed the bathroom in the gardening area—the shower, the sink, the toilet, the floor. I even pulled out every item from the medicine chest, cleaned it stem to stern (and all the stuff I'd pulled out), and cleaned all the windows, and pulled out the screens and washed them, too.

Just as I was finishing the last swipe on the floor, Brother Ramananda came in to inspect. I put rags on the floor so he could step through and check the shower. He looked at everything, and then opened up the cabinets to inspect—all clean. Then he whipped open the medicine cabinet (almost expectantly, it seemed), only to find it sparkling as well. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to point at the windows and started to say, "The windows..." then stopped. He continued, ...look very clean. You did well."

It was the first time any of us had "passed muster" in six months. He pushed us to be thorough, to miss nothing—because we were doing this for God and Guru who deserved our every attention to detail.

I also used to work in the gardens, and one day shortly thereafter, had climbed high into the geraniums right by the windmill chapel (the new Temple had not yet been built). I was "cleaning" the geraniums—picking the dead flowers and leaves off each flower so the carpet of flowers would look pristine, rather than shaggy.

Brother Ramananda, wearing his ever-present straw hat came by. He stopped, looked up at me, and with a twinkle in his eye said, "You don't do anything half-way, do you?" then walked on.

It was a great compliment.

But you see... the compliment really was for him in my mind—for due (at least in part) to his seemingly overly-critical manner, he spurred us on to do everything with the idea of that our best should be the norm—that our deeds were for God and Guru, and they deserved nothing less than everything we had in us.

So perhaps there's something you need to learn from this experience...

Then again, he IS human, and maybe its' something else.

So I'll tell you what Bramachari Isaac said to me once when I was hesitant about asking permission for something from Mother Centre. He sternly but lovingly admonished me, "If you don't ask, you don't get. Don't over-think, don't assume and don't project what the answer will be. Just ask."

So ask him—perhaps a note would be easier for you, maybe face-to-face is more to your liking. But I would advise you to do it in private, and not put him on the spot in front of others.